black friday

[Vir Campestris]

Linux isn't always the answer, but this time it may be!

Andy

[rick]

I called in local Tescos and loads of people were buying large screen TV .. they had huge piles of LG and Blaupunkt

[Johnny B Good]

I wouldn't normally be tempted to buy stuff just for the sake of taking advantage of the "Black Friday Specials" but we (me and the missus) had been looking at the HD and UHD TV sets in our local Tesco superstore a couple of weeks ago. We got as far as picking up three of their "Buy Tickets" just as an aide-memoire, writing the prices down on each card so we could do an on line search at our leisure in the comfort of our own home.

Yesterday (Friday afternoon), my missus reminded me that I *still* hadn't gotten around to pursuing the "promised research" into buying a 'modern telly' to replace the Panasonic widescreen CRT telly (bought 2nd hand by my son a few years before and which he had donated to his mum as an upgrade to replace a smaller 28(?)inch Panasonic set (still working but then begining to show symptoms of its 20 odd years of faithful service) that we'd bought off the rental company (a legacy from before we were married) a couple of decades earlier for the princely sum of, afaicr, fifty quid.

I had just observed the service engineer repair "The Stock Fault" - a high wattage resistor that had unsoldered itself from the board and figured that the next time it did this would be another two decades later and a simple enough repair that I could apply if the set were to last that long, so it seemed a good deal at the time. :-)

Anyhow, that sets the scene for our trawling through "Black Friday Deals" on t'internet (just a convenient coincidence afaiwc but maybe not so much for the missus). At least we were armed with three pre-Black Friday price benchmarks from our earlier visit to the Tesco superstore to verify whether or not any of these Black Friday pricing deals were as good as all the expected hype would be trying to make us all believe.

Our three "Tesco Contenders" had been a Sharp LC-43CFF5111K (43" 1080p HD) at £219, another 43" 1080 HD, the LG 43LH5100 at £299 and an LG

43UH61V 4K Smart TV for a mere £436. By then, we'd decided to include an element of "Future Proofing" so were only looking at 4K UHD TV sets.

Since we like J Lewis's 5 year warranties and exemplary customer service, we found the LG43UH610V priced at a mere £370 but spotted the better specced version of this model, the LG43UH620V also at £370 in Currys PC World but only 1 year warranty and *exclusive to them* so a bit more research uncovered the LG43UH661V an even better specced set at £449 from Richer Sounds who were out of stock locally and suggested another

43"UHD LG TV set which seemingly didn't deserve to be blessed with an actual model number when we checked out the Richer Sounds site.

In the end, we had another look at J Lewis's site and discovered they were selling the LG43UH661V with a 5 year warranty for just £399 a whole

50 quid cheaper than Richer Sounds' 300 quid saving on the RRP of £749. Since that seemed to include all the basic functions I'd expect plus a few more, we decided to place our order with J Lewis and take advantage of their 5 year warranty and free delivery service.

I know that despite all my searching for the hidden caveats and my best efforts at *not* reading more into the implied promises of the marketing blurb, I'll find something that'll prove to be an annoyance. To be fair, I suspect this would be the case no matter what make or model of reasonably priced 43 inch 4K Smart (assed) TV I choose to buy. It seems a case of "Damned whatever you choose" to paraphrase Bart Simpson's, "Damned if you do, and damned if you don't" summation of his philosophy of life which speaks to us all.

It seems to me that all the TV manufacturers are determined to overwhelm their customer base with a needlessly vast repertoire of model variants designed with the sole purpose of confusing the shit out of their customers so as to disguise the one decent VFM (value for money) example [1] that may or may not be hidden in each model class in order to force their customers into buying something they'll become dissatisfied with sooner, rather than later so as to create a 'need to upgrade' just a short year or two later in order to bolster demand for 'newer and better' product.

Anyway, I should know about "The Disappointments" hidden in the spec of that LG43UH661V by late Wednesday evening according to the delivery schedule confirmation call. As far as the missus goes, this is going to one hell of a giant leap out of the late 20th century into the second decade of the 21st! Whether it's a leap for the better is another question but I guess I'll have an answer to that one soon enough.

[1] You might wonder why the manufacturers would even bother with such a VFM option at all. The answer I think is so the customer can take all the blame for not taking sufficient care when selecting from the more than generous range of options so kindly provided by the manufacturer. After all, the manufacturer can defend their position by pointing out that such a VFM model was actually available if only the customer had been sufficiently circumspect in their choice (and prepared to pay a modest premium both in research time and price).

The manufacturing company protects itself from accusations of providing every possible model variation *except* the one desirable variant that would have met the customers' reasonable expectations for just a tiny price premium by actually making such a variant (and cunningly hiding it amongst all the other model variants on offer). A marketing technique that's probably best described by the phrase, "Having your cake *and* eating it." :-(

[therustyone]

I also once bought a Tosh Satellite, for a lot more than that. First the touch screen stopped being touchy, then one hinge seized up which I fixed b y dismantling and silicone grease (seems to be an common problem). Since t hen the screws holding the base all come loose regularly because the chassi s flexes a lot. On the other hand it still goes like the clappers with Win

10 as a computer so worth keeping going.

[Handsome Jack]

Johnny B Good posted

This is also true of TV recorders and no doubt many related products.

The trouble is that you do not actually know what software features the machine does and doesn't have until you get it home and play with it for a few days. Nor do you know how reliable it is in terms of crash-resilience. IME the recorders released in the past couple of years are in both respects far worse than the earlier generation. In particular the broadcast programme guides are extremely poorly designed.

[Chris J Dixon]

After much scrutiny of information I decided on the Samsung UE43KU6000, which I think may be my best VFM. I found a "Black Friday deal at Curry's for £449, but if I had waited until yesterday, I could have saved an extra £20. :-(

Only time will tell how it performs.

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If you are replacing what was a decent CRT set that you were once happy with, look very carefully at what you buy.

A decent CRT was capable of giving extremely good rendition of the flesh tones. Many LCDs struggle to do this well. Possibly down to the quality of the backlight. Samsung of the common TV makes in particular seems to give all faces that sun tanned look. And can be very tricky to adjust to give even their not too good best in this respect.

If you're the type where 'vibrant' colours are all that matters, any will probably do.

But all these things change by the day, as backlight LEDs improve. So difficult to say what to go for. Except that most of the 'bargain' ones from 'unknown' TV makers are far more likely to be poor in this respect.

Oddly, my not so new computer monitor is better than any of my TVs in this respect. But then it did cost rather more than a TV with the same size screen.

The really big problem is it's impossible to assess a picture in a store. You need to view a big variety of stuff over a long time to find the one that suits you best.

[dennis]

topcashback has 7.7% back on some TVs in currys.

[Johnny B Good]

It's all down to the ease with which manufacturers can now produce a whole plethora of model variations using modern computerised manufacturing techniques, compounded in this case by the product itself being largely 'computerised' requiring nothing more than variations of the firmware coding with none to almost no hardware changes being required. The ease with which such variants can be created is taken full advantage of in order to befuddle the poor defenceless consumer and maximise market potential.

I guess there's always been a "Consumer War" ever since the advent of mass production of 'Consumer Goods' at the end of the 19th century where said manufacturers have been waging battles, initially against their competitors but now, in this post modern world of globalisation, against the very consumers themselves.

The battles have been organised by the marketing divisions who employ a mercenary army of advertising agencies from Maddison avenue where the favoured battlefield has been TV advertising ever since the middle of the last century in the UK (and, from where it was imported from, the USA a couple of decades earlier as a natural evolution of sound radio advertising).

The advertising agencies were very quick to recruit psychology expertise in their battle of wits with their clients' target demographic. When it comes to "A Battle of Wits", the ad agencies have an unfair advantage over their 'adversaries', the 'consuming classes'. It's as if the consumers are re-enacting the "Battle of The Somme" by charging across no- mans'-land into a psychological hail of machine gun fire from the more than amply armed Marketing divisions of the enemy (aka, the globalised manufacturing conglomerates responsible for most of the crappy consumer goods they're being fobbed off with).

Each time you settle down in front of your TV to watch a commercial channel it's an analogue of fighting a skirmish in this never ending war of globalised consumer goods manufacturing versus the great unwashed consuming masses.

For the younger generation, this is a Battle of Wits they are ill equipped to win (the education system failed them by not providing "Cynicism 101" as part of its core curriculum from year one onwards).

The older generation, for the most part having attended the University of Life, will have picked up valuable hard won lessons in how to deal with the "Lying Bastards" of the advertising industry so aren't nearly so vulnerable to the flood of marketing bullshit promises being poured down upon them from on high every 5 to 20 minutes whilst watching what is effectively "Bait" entertainment.

Even so, such 'battle hardened veterans' of the consuming classes will eventually succumb to the relentless pressure and make ill founded buying decisions in spite of themselves (these days, it's enough for the advertising agencies simply to raise awareness of a brand name to tip the balance in their clients' favour). None of us are entirely immune to the effects of advertising so we're all at risk of being conned into making a less than optimal purchasing decision. It's just an inescapable fact of life in our modern consumer based western society.

Despite the inescapable consequences of living a consumerised western lifestyle, it's still worth keeping in mind why we're so often left with that deep rooted feeling of dissatisfaction with almost every one of our latest "Must Have" purchases. In short, that feeling is 'By Design' since the marketing/advertising industries' are serving their client's needs, not yours.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The fault tends to be ours. Taking advertising at face value. A 'new' model must automatically be better than the previous one. It may well have differences - but only you can decide if it is better.

[Johnny B Good]

That's pretty much the case. When it comes to examining the marketing blurb, we are often our own worst enemy. We (as a species that has become so highly evolved to take the power and benefits of group organisation to its ultimate limit) are, as individuals, always seeking guidance and reassurance from our peers, especially the older more experienced authority figures amongst our peer (or tribal) group.

It is this feature of our psychological make up that's being so roundly exploited by corporate marketing divisions worldwide through their Maddison Avenue Minions.

This built in willingness to go along with the group has been Humanity's key strength in gaining ascendency over all other species on the planet but, as with everything, such a key characteristic, like technology, is a double edged sword that generally benefits society as a whole but which so often is a detriment to the individual in one way or another.

Like every such 'fact of life', there is nothing inherently evil in such 'double edged' solutions. It simply boils down to establishing an optimum balance between the good of society and that of its individual members.

Our inherent need to be assured that we are making the right decision whenever we're faced with a non-trivial choice, is exploited to the max by the advertising agencies who use phrases and imagery designed by psychology experts to make us want to believe that what is being offered is all benefit with absolutely no downside (or, to express it bluntly, put us all in a more gullible or receptive frame of mind).

If you wish to gain a little more immunity against the effects of 'advertising', a key 'fact' to bear in mind is that the only difference between "Propaganda" and "Advertising" is in name alone. It's quite telling that the advertising industry uses the phrase, "Advertising Campaign", acknowledging the "War of Words" military aspect of their core business activity.

The key thing to remember when shopping around for any product is that it's not so much a case of buying the most satisfactory product so much as buying the least unsatisfactory product at a given price point. Also, keep in mind that these advertised "Gift Horses" not only need to be looked in the mouth, they should also, metaphorically speaking, be examined with dental X-ray equipment for good measure.

A mere cursory glance will often suffice to save you the embarrassment of buying a thinly disguised turkey but it's no guarantee that a more cunningly disguised one might still land up joining the rest of your flock instead of adding to the herd. "Caveat emptor" in this case means in essence, "Don't be your own worst enemy!"

[Chris J Dixon]

I do use TC, but the set I bought had a rather lower percentage cashback.

Chris

[Chris J Dixon]

For this reason I based my choice on assessment by Which. I know that they are fallible, but I didn't really have any better ideas.

One upon a time "Which" results tables could be readily filtered by facilities or particular aspects of performance. Sadly this is now much reduced, I am guessing it is the inevitable downside of the drive to make everything readable on smartphones.

Faced with so much information, having a mind set that my major decisions are based on data, I simply set to and transcribed a subset of their data to a spreadsheet, where I could readily play with criteria to my heart's content.

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I certainly used Which at one time (many years ago). And was never disappointed by any of their 'Best Buys' But having got most of the things I wanted, decided it was an unnecessary expense - given that with the internet developing, I no longer looked forward to reading it as before.

I too found they'd changed into not telling me what I wanted to know about something easily.

Excellent. Not sure I could be bothered. ;-)

[Adrian Caspersz]

'Which' dumbed down selections into a top ten list.

A friend, probably well meaning but ultimately misguided, became a famous reference for his near folks in selecting good appliances to buy. He'd typically suggest the top of the top ten, ignoring the rest of the supporting article, which may have had good reasons for some folks not going for that choice.

So one pensioner bought a rather posh plasma TV just on his 'recommendation'.

This had a picture dynamic range superb for dark goth horror movies, a remote control with zillions of buttons for intended geek tinkering and a pretty high enthusiast price tag. But scored highly in Which, so must be OK. Generally OK for everyone. Right.....

Er, nope.

Her TV interests strayed nowhere from watching coronation street, and although I would have loved to show her some of the fantastic unused features on her set, it was sadly all too complicated for her to fathom out. She had particular concern on how to switch the input to video, to replay old video tapes of family weddings. It was fiddly.

If he could have just given her Which to read, she might have chosen a more suitable set. Or she could have just asked me.